Flickan som lekte med elden (2009, Sweden)

Inevitably, a film adaptation of a complex, multi-layered suspense/mystery novel of the outstanding caliber of Larsson's work just isn't going to have the same impact. True, a lot was too oversimplified (for instance, the sex trade angle, a huge part of the novel's plot, never made sense in the film). Also, the fight between Paolo, Miriam, and the German was way too *bang* *pow* super-choreographed.

Still, a lot of it carried over well. It was very dark and suspenseful. I still think the casting for Lisbeth was excellent, though Mikael was on and off. The music was eerie and dark, perfect to set the appropriate tone. Good stuff, especially if you haven't read the book but even if you have.

Chilling, powerful, engaging, and very Swedish. Good stuff.

Rating: 3.5

Ondine (2009, Ireland)

I was rather intrigued by the concept of this film. Also I hadn't seen an Irish film in awhile, and I was curious to see what kind of film would cause Colin Farrell to leave Hollywood and return to Ireland.

Syracuse, who's better known as Circus because of his drunken antics, has a disabled daughter whose mother he's estranged from. He's a fisherman, and one day he catches a beautiful woman in his net. She says her name is Ondine, which means "she came from the sea." His daughter thinks Ondine is a selkie; Circus thinks he's falling in love.

Ondine is a modern Irish fairy tale, but it has all the magic and darkness of old Irish fairy tales and all the bleak realism of modern Irish life. I guess you could call it magical realism. It is damp, poor, sad, magical, beautiful, wonderful Ireland at its best. The contrast between the fantasy story and the true story is perfectly balanced. The score was mostly this (I can't help using the word yet again) magical-sounding guitar music which fit perfectly. And Colin Farrell was brilliant, a strong choice for the role of an almost weak and broken man. The girl who played Ondine was also talented, and the girl who played the daughter nearly stole the show.

Beautiful. Magical. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.0

Despicable Me (2010, U.S.)

Despicable Me was a very strange movie. A super villain named Gru loses his place as the world's worst villain, replaced by a nerdy kid who goes by Vector, smart smart but not world-smart. To break into his arch-enemy's lair, he adopts three girls from an orphanage that sells cookies so that they can infiltrate Vector's fortress.

I wish they had focused more on Gru doing despicable things at the beginning. I loved watching him waltz into Starbucks and using a freeze gun to cut in front of everyone in line. I guess this was the kind of movie that's made for plot rather than character development, but with such a good lead character, it's a shame they didn't spend more time on him. (Side note: why are villains always eastern European? What stereotyping!) I also loved his minions, who were adorable and hilarious.

I don't often notice sets unless they're really out of the ordinary, but the "sets" in this were awesome, especially in the two villains' lairs. The furniture, technology, built-in shark tanks, weapon systems, and more were really cool. This definitely couldn't have been pulled this off in a live-action film. Gru's big dark house in an otherwise cookie cutter neighborhood also gave me a laugh.

The use of Pharrell Williams as a composer was an interesting addition to the movie. It varied in feel from serious spy to goofy and then a combination of the two, plus some weirdly unexpected R&B. The title song, "Despicable Me," was awesome. So awesome that I want to download it and make it my personal theme song.

Rating: 3.5

The Last Song (2010, U.S.)

Much better than Nights in Rodanthe, didn't hold a candle to The Notebook or Message in a Bottle. Then again, this wasn't my favorite Sparks book either.

A very troubled teenage girl and her brother get shipped off to her dad's for the summer. There she finds her first love and reestablishes her relationship with her father.

The casting was pretty good on this one. Miley Cyrus wasn't that bad, Greg Kinnear was good, the boyfriend was sexy, and the kid who played the younger brother was awesome. I've seen some great child actors recently, it seems.

I think this was very true to the novel, because it too tried to take on too much at once. The combination of the dying father-troubled daughter story and the first love story was just too much. I think the movie did a pretty good, maybe better, job of showing how the girl falling in love helped her open her heart to her father more too.

It was sweet and I was sobbing at the end. Nicholas Sparks, what more can I say?

Rating: 3.5

Taken (2008, U.S.)

Taken is one of the best suspense movies I've seen in a long, long time. I saw it because Meghan had been wanting to see it, and I rarely turn down a movie invite. In this case, I'm glad I didn't.

On the one hand, the plot of this film was ridiculously unbelievable. But at the same time, it was chillingly believable. A teenager and her friend go to Paris together, only to immediately fall for a cute French guy who is the tip of a human trafficking iceberg. Her ex-military father is determined to hunt them down and save his daughter before it's too late.

The action is great. Even the violence falls perfectly between gory and stylized, which is the only kind of violence I really like in a film. Unlike the last suspense film I saw (The International), how Neeson's character figures out the clues to get from point A to point B makes sense. The acting is phenomenal. The filmmakers also did an exceptional job with making the characters truly realistic, even down to a very convincing father-daughter relationship between Neeson and Grace. Really, this relationship was the backbone of the entire film.

I'm not one to watch action movies over and over again, but I could definitely see giving this one a second viewing. It was incredible.

Rating: 4.0